Dear All,
If you recall, back in 2015/2016 I sent you a copy of my 164-page Report (Report 1) titled “A Case of Mismanagement of Irish Government Funds.” See link at end.
This update Report will be my final communication to you, and its purpose is to continue where Report 1 left off and effectively lay everything out so that you can draw your own conclusions, just as I have.
I’d like to thank whichever member nation uploaded Report 1 onto the European Ombudsman Institute website (it certainly wasn’t Ireland).
Although I believe I made a good case in Report 1 that there was very likely inappropriate behavior (mismanagement of taxpayer funds) relating to Innovation Fund Ireland (IFI) on the part of the Irish Government, I still had some subsequent work to do to exhaust the limited number of options I had available to me to hold the Irish Government accountable.
Once this subsequent work was done, I was then able to submit my complaints (two) to the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) where I attempted to get a ruling of at least an ethical violation on the part of the Irish Government.
Additionally, I decided to go a step further and send all of these SIPO communications (complaints/decisions) to other relevant oversight bodies, representing a request for an investigation by these bodies.
But first, let me discuss in more detail what the alleged crime was…click on link above.
Kind regards,
Maurice D. Landers
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Note – Update by author to update Report (first link above, top):
1. Regarding the link to the CIA Reading Room on page 27, to access the document just type in the number in the link (0006184107) in the search box of the page the link pulls up. The link I provided brought you straight to the document but has since been changed slightly (by whom?) and instead brings up what’s new on the CIA electronic reading room, but the CIA document is still accessible.
2. Regarding the link to an article (on The Law is my Oyster) on p.35 of my update Report, it had been disabled (before June 20, 2022) but is now accessible via the new link immediately below (I noticed this new link on Oct. 30, 2023):
A Farewell to Pensions | The Law is my Oyster (wordpress.com)
I have screenshots made of the article in case the link is disabled again in future.
The article corroborates the experience one of the Groups I cofounded (Celtic Power Group) had dealing with the Irish Government. Celtic Power was the second project we brought to the Irish Government (inc. Northern Ireland). And just like our first project (Iverna Group) in the life sciences space, the Irish Government takes your idea and gives it to somebody else, it seems this time to Cyclone Wind Farms (AMP Capital Investors) in 2012 (we brought our idea for a 50MW wind farm to Irish Government/Northern Ireland in 2010). At that time, the Irish Government made it very clear that it doesn’t provide funding for these types of projects as the Government viewed such projects as not providing the same, if any, economic benefits when compared to FDI and other enterprise development schemes (Iverna was a FDI project while Celtic Power was initially non-FDI but we planned on bringing FDI related investment later). Interesting how Irish Government economic and business principles (indeed rationality) can change very quickly when you’re likely raiding a taxpayer funded pensions scheme (i.e. NPRF – just like it was raided via Innovation Fund Ireland back in 2010) at an opportune time when it’s ‘transitioning’ to a different type of structure (ISIF). Lesson to be learned…stay away from these Irish Government bastards.
Cyclone Wind Farms | AMP Capital
Irish infrastructure fund backed by NPRF buys wind-farm stake | News | IPE
Update 1/30/2024 – The above links were changed fairly recently I believe. However, I had made a screenshot of their content just in case. See content/screenshot of both links at AMP Capital and IPE Article
3. The link to SIPO investigation reports on page 83 was in fact changed by SIPO after my update Report was published. It is now:
Investigation Reports | Reports & Publications | SIPO.ie
Update 4/7/2025 – While I didn’t ‘date’ the sentence immediately above, it was written about 1-2 years ago. Having clicked on it recently, I noticed that this link too has been changed. It is now:
(Screenshot at end of 3.)
Irish government agencies keep changing links on their websites to make it harder for readers to view certain sections (consisting of mandatory information under law/statute) when referred to them.
They don’t want you to access these sections of their websites with a simple click and assume most readers will just move on if the link is not working. But this gives me an opportunity to point out how useless SIPO is, or should I say, reiterate how useless and meaningless SIPO really is as I have already clearly stated how useless and meaningless it is in my reports. If you take a look at page 11 of my Final Report, you will see included in the text, screenshots of SIPO’s Investigation Reports pages at different times (paragraphs 4 and 9 – para 4 refers you to “(p.83, second last paragraph)” of my update report where if you click on Exhibit 9 it will pull up the screenshot). I also add below a recent screenshot (4/7/25) of SIPO’s current Investigation Reports page.
Comparing each, SIPO produced nine investigation reports from 2007 to 2015, nine from 2016 to 2019 (for some reason, the screenshot in para 4 which shows reports from 2007 to 2017 shows the investigation report into Mr. Tim Caffrey dated Nov. 2015 whereas in the screenshot in para 9, a later version of the page, it shows the investigation report into him dated July 2016, so I’ll assume the 2015 date is the correct one?), and from 2020 to now (Apr. 2025) there have only been three investigation reports, that is, in 2020, 2021 and 2024.
I ask the question particularly in light of it being recently exposed by The Ditch cheating by certain Irish government members and their subsequent resignations (see Case Study section of Failte 32 under ‘Updates’), is SIPO doing its job? Compare its productivity from 2020 to present (2025). SIPO has produced just three investigation reports over a five-year period. For comparison, I, Maurice Landers, undertook as a private citizen three investigation reports and a ‘one pager’ into the Irish government over a period from 2015 to 2019 on my own time and dime.
Is this really value for taxpayer funds?
Screenshot (4/7/25) of SIPO’s Investigation Reports page
4. Re. p.110, second sentence, as was noticed on July 22, 2022, this link no longer displays a ‘Page not found’ message. The article was first removed, then relinked and then removed again and another message added (to replace the ‘Page not found’ message) that was worded to sound less suspicious, that is:
“Some links might not be working yet, as we’re currently redeveloping our website. Please bear with us: we’ll be launching this section shortly.”
The above message displays even though the redeveloping of the website is complete (as of viewing it on Oct. 3, 2023).
5. Re. p.113, 10th line from end, I was referring to the then current article (which has again been removed – I, the author of this Report, noticed this on July 22, 2022) when I say “it is missing”.
6. Re. p.102, all of these links have been disabled by the Irish Government (obviously after they received my Reports – I, the author of this Report, noticed this on July 22, 2022, in fact earlier but I state it here as of this date). As mentioned before when other links were disabled by the Irish Government and others referenced in my Reports, I had preempted this by making screen shots of the linked articles as backup. See – first link, second link, third link. I have more screen shots of other related articles (Innovation Fund Ireland) if you the reader require them. If you notice any other links disabled in my Reports, please let me know at [email protected] as I will likely have a screen shot of the article/s.
7. Additionally, I refer to text on certain websites throughout my Reports such as for example hyperbole on PwC’s website (p. 182 of my update Report). This text or hyperbole may have been changed or otherwise altered since my Reports were published.
8. On p.73/74, I would just like to highlight some things regarding point b):
First, it demonstrates the absurdity of the terms ‘open’ and ‘closed’ cases as used by the Irish government. Cases can’t be considered closed if they can be reopened.”
Second, it demonstrates the possible word games the Irish government and its oversight bodies play (see the last paragraph of point b)).
And lastly, possibly demonstrating word games again, I ask for confirmation from SIPO in the first part of the email dated 18/05/2017 at 05:52 that their ‘note’ applies to all seven complaints, not just one of them.
While my points may seem petty or overly focused, as the old saying goes, the devil is in the details… and this is how you catch the Irish government.
